General Bowlds discusses innovative comm ideas, calls for more

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
BOSTON (AFNS) --  Rapid technology evolution, asymmetric threats, constrained defense budgets and a host of other dynamics pose vexing communication challenges, Lt. Gen. Ted Bowlds told more than 1,200 conference attendees at a luncheon here Oct. 19.

But "ideas for meeting those challenges abound," the Air Force Electronic Systems Center commander told the audience of industry and government members at MILCOM 2009.

The general said many of those ideas are based on existing commercial products.

"About 90 percent of the things we do at Electronic Systems Center depend on, and drive on, commercial technology that sits out there today," he said. "Most of the systems in our air operations centers ... are things you could go buy commercially."

Therefore center officials have been working to "tighten up acquisition processes to try to capitalize on some of these technologies that have been moving ahead at light speed," he said. He cited efforts such as the Joint Expeditionary Forces Experiment, where technologies are demonstrated to operators in a robust, simulated warfighting environment.

"Then we do everything we can to get the technology in the hands of the warfighter in less than 12 months, because if we don't get it there in less than 12 months, that technology is worthless," he said.

The general said senior leaders across the services need to understand that their young subordinates and those who will soon be joining the ranks are "digital natives." These young people intuitively understand advanced information technologies and expect to employ the communication advantages they afford.

It makes sense to empower these young service members, General Bowlds said. He noted the inherent power, for example, of the hand-held devices they've grown up using.

"We need to give them something -- maybe it doesn't look like an iPhone or an Android phone -- but something, and with it, we'd give them a software development tool kit so they can go write their own applications real-time."

Like the industry model, "we are working to define a development sandbox, so the warfighters in the field can develop and write their own applications while ensuring the basic operating system remains sound," General Bowlds said. This would allow "the warfighters operating at the edge to adapt to that asymmetrical atmosphere in which they're fighting."

Not only would this take advantage of their skills, but it would maximize the utility of information they gather, giving them the ability to push it quickly onto the network, he said. It would also allow them to receive information, perhaps including real-time video feeds from unmanned aerial systems flying overhead.

The general also proposed some innovative ideas for defending networks; not just those operated by the military, but those needed to protect critical infrastructure and maintain global commerce, as well.

"If we (the Defense Department) survive an attack, but others don't, we can't just throw up our arms and say 'hooray for us.'"

Virtualization, the general said, offers a promising tack for cyber defense.

"What if I can constantly change the way I look to an adversary?" he asked. "What if I became a chameleon in the cyber domain?"

That sort of thing could allow DOD officials to "retake the asymmetric advantage by constantly changing the attack surface," he said. This might mean that information appearing to be available in one place at one time might actually be, or at least appear to be, somewhere else 30 seconds later.

The general challenged conference attendees to think about such innovative ideas and to keep proposing more.

In technical break-out sessions and other forums throughout the conference, many such ideas are being exchanged throughout the week.

The conference kicked off with a plenary session speech by former White House advisor David Gergen Oct 19. A speech by former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff highlighted day two of the conference Oct. 20.